


The Stars Are Just Stars And That's It

by DoctorFitzy (KittooningMalijah)



Series: webseries au [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, That's literally all this is, Webseries AU, just a mess of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-05 22:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10318073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittooningMalijah/pseuds/DoctorFitzy
Summary: The messiest first dates could potentially lead to the best second dates. The thing about messes is that they need a chance to be cleaned up because then they might become the best thing in the world.





	

          After her talk with their landlord, Jemma had immediately gone up to the apartment she shared with Leo and called the very man she'd had a conversation about. Only going on one date wasn't enough to help her reassert herself into the life she'd had to let go of for a little while, but a second date might just get her there. So, she'd set up another dinner for the next Saturday night, made arrangements to have Grant over to spend time with her roommate preemptively, and planned her outfit before even starting to make sandwiches for a night in with Netflix.

          When date night arrived, however, she was more than a little stressed out while sitting on the couch and trying to keep from wrinkling her top. If the first date had gone so horribly, then what was stopping the universe from making the second one that much worse?

          Or maybe she'd been spending too much time watching space documentaries with Leo.

          Everything was sorted out so that she didn't have to worry about anything. Grant was already in the kitchen making dinner for himself and Leo, the weather was supposed to be clear enough that part of their plans involved star gazing, and reservations had been made so that they would definitely get a table without having to wait and put off the rest of their evening because of a busy kitchen. The only thing she was worried about was the potential for Will to lose interest - their first dinner had been so exciting, what if he got _bored_?

          But she couldn't worry about that for too long before she got the text announcing that her date was downstairs, and then she made sure to pull herself together. If she was stressed when getting into the car, then there was no way to guarantee that it wouldn't be infectious, and that might only make the night more cursed that she already feared it would be. Jemma stopped by the other end of the couch just long enough to lean down and press a kiss to the top of Leo's head on her way out, pausing again just outside the kitchen so that she could remind their current guest of the plan.

          "Remember, I'll be back around midnight and not much later - one o'clock at the absolute _latest_. I will not be staying the night this time, weather permitting, and please have the kitchen mostly clean so that I don't have to worry about it tomorrow. It's my day off and I don't want to spend it cleaning."

          She didn't miss the look that Grant shot her over the bowl he was using to mix some dip together for the chips on the counter. "Jem, you're doing that thing where you yell at me about things I haven't done yet. I told you, everything here is going to be just fine - worry about your date. And if things change, and you end up staying the night with him again, well, use a condom. And text me when you sneak to the bathroom afterward so I know whether or not to pass out on the couch. Really, I've got everything here handled - I'll even have Leo in bed before midnight so that you have even _less_ to worry about when you get back. Go, enjoy yourself, have an extra breadstick for us."

          Some parts of his speech to her made her roll her eyes, but on the whole, he meant well, and she wasn't going to worry too much about something when she really did have to get going and focus on her date instead of all the things that _might_  go wrong. Besides, whether or not she ended up staying the night with Will again, for _any_ reason, wasn't any of his business. "I will _not_  be staying the night, just make sure things aren't too much of a mess when I get back - and, for the record, you're always allowed to pass out on our couch."

* * *

 

          Dinner had been entirely uneventful. They'd chatted about more recent work, their lives since the power outage, a few television shows and movies they hadn't had the chance to discuss on their first date. It was _nice,_ and _simple_ , and _easy,_  and she couldn't imagine a better evening. It was the reason she was so on edge while sitting on a blanket in the middle of the roof on Will's building, so much so that she wasn't making any physical contact even as she hugged her knees to her chest and looked up at the pinpricks of light that had travelled hundreds of millions of miles just to be seen by their tiny little planet in the middle of nothingness.

          Yet, when their purpose was so simple, they also had the ability to make or break the most important nights of her life.

          Jemma knew she wasn't subtle, that the tension in her shoulders was sure to be noticed in a matter of minutes, and she wasn't wrong. She was proven correct as soon as her date was sat next to her on the soft blanket, his arm going out and around her shoulders to pull her into a warm embrace. "Is there something wrong with tonight that I haven't picked up on? Did you get a text from that roommate of yours? I can take you home if you need to be there for something."

          He was being so _sweet,_ and she didn't want to stop the date just because of her nerves, so she leaned closer, instead, resting more of her weight against his chest with a soft sigh. How was she supposed to explain that she was afraid because things were going _too_  well? There wasn't a logical explanation for how unreasonable her emotions were, but it didn't really stop her from feeling them. "No, I don't have to be anywhere else. I'm just... in my head, I suppose. Do you think there's anything that can really determine whether or not our lives turn out the way we want them to? Leo's been watching all these movies about how people have their destinies determined by the stars or some outside force. I guess I"ve watched so many with him that I'm not sure what to believe anymore."

          Will's chuckle was just big enough that she could feel his chest move with the sound, and that moment was the happiest of the entire night. "That's not very scientific of you to say. I thought you of all people would be firmly on _Team Free Will_  - our lives are _our_  lives, not something to be determined by some outside force that doesn't know us. And I've been up there, remember? I've seen the stars for what they are, not for what the movies make them out to be." His voice was just low enough that the words were partially muffled by her hair, and she was more than content with their current position. "Stars are... they're doing the best they can, I think, like we are. They're a lot like us, actually. They're just out there, in the middle of nowhere, with no idea what's going on, and they have a purpose, sure, but I think they're just as clueless as we are. I mean, imagine it - they're just floating in a vacuum, not even really alive, just trying to keep burning with what they've got. They're literally burning themselves up from the inside out just to keep existing, why would they care about us?"

          They were both quiet after that for a long moment, letting his words hang there in the air while the stars faintly flickered overhead. He had a point - the stars were busy focusing on themselves, just like everyone on earth did, and there was no point in worrying about an insignificant planet or the beings living there when it was much too far away to matter. Somehow, that reminder, that the earth and everyone on it was so _small_  in the grand scheme of things, made it easier to relax and just take a deep breath for the first time all night. One bad storm didn't mean everything else had to be bad; it was just a storm, and a storm was the same as any star or living being. It was more concerned with keeping itself around than thinking about the consequences of simply _being_.

          "Thank you..." Jemma's response was a low whisper, but it carried just fine on the still rooftop while she smiled up at the neverending expanse of space above them. For a little while, maybe she could be just like a storm or the stars, and just worry about what she wanted instead of how one decision _might_ affect the people in her life.

* * *

 

          For the second time within the span of a month, she'd fallen asleep in Will Daniels' bed, only this time was far more intentional. This time, instead of a DVD player preventing them from getting even remotely close to each other, she'd fallen asleep in his arms, and she actually felt _comfortable_ without having to toss and turn for a better position until late into the night, and it was the best sleep she'd gotten in months. She was so comfortably asleep that she didn't wake until the smell of pancakes wafted through the open door of the bedroom and made her stomach growl with a hunger she hadn't anticipated.

          Jemma was rubbing the sleep from her eyes while she stumbled out into the kitchen, happy just to wear her underwear beneath the spare t-shirt she'd been offered the night before after they'd come inside when the temperature started to drop. She'd had the option to go home, to curl up and sleep in her own bed, but the idea of spending time in her head again, of having to think in the silence of her own bedroom, it wasn't so appealing. Instead, she'd chosen the option that meant she could fall asleep with the sound of someone else's breathing to fill the quiet, and being warm and being _held_  was far better than being left alone with her thoughts.

          "Are those blueberries...?"

          A plate was set down in front of one of the chairs at the table before she could even sit down, along with a bottle of maple syrup and silverware. The first thing she saw when she lifted her head was a rather sheepish smile, and it only made her own sleepy expression widen. And, in the moments before she registered the sound of his voice, it occurred to her that it wouldn't be terrible to start _every_ morning this way. "I think I'm out of butter, I'm sorry..."

          The only reaction she could even think of giving was a giddy laugh, and she reached out to take his hand in hers with a happy expression, shaking her head. "It's okay - I'll just put extra syrup on them instead. They won't taste all that different, I'm sure. Besides, I love blueberries, and the butter would just distract from that."

          She had barely stopped speaking when she felt his lips on hers, and though the kiss was soft, there was too much emotion put into it for her to miss the intensity of it, and it was startling enough that it took a moment to properly reaction. But, once she had the time to process what was happening, she reached out to hold onto his arm while tilting her head to meet the kiss happily. After such a nice date, and a comfortable night, it only seemed fair to round it all out with a domestic breakfast, kisses included, and there was only one word Jemma could use to describe what she was feeling in that moment.

          _Happy_.

          It had been months since she'd felt so relaxed and safe somewhere besides her own apartment, and all she wanted was for the moment to last for as long as possible - but there was air to consider, and breakfast to eat, and texts that really should be responded to after she hadn't returned home at all, let alone on time. More kisses could wait until they'd both been awake for more than half an hour, and until she'd at least let someone know that she was safe and alive, though maybe she would keep her impressively good mood to herself for a day or two. No one else necessarily had to know that her viewpoint on the world had changed so drastically after one night with a man she had already started developing feelings for. For just a few days, she could be happy, and no one could take that away from her.

* * *

          Almost a year after that wonderful second date was the night they sat out on the roof again, staring up at the stars and simply talking about their work days like they didn't live in different buildings a fifteen minute drive away from each other, like they hadn't just spent all of dinner downstairs in his apartment talking about the same silly plot twists and scientific developments that they'd talked about the night before. Jemma Simmons was just as happy as she'd been so long before, and she was almost certain that the happiness hadn't ever really gone away, no matter how many ups and downs her life threw at her, but there was one key difference between that night and the night that the stars stopped having so much control.

          The ring on her finger had only been there for two hours, and she'd already decided that she never wanted to take it off.


End file.
